Meet Aileen Judson | Stressologist :) Massage Therapist and Educator, Yoga and Meditation Instructor

We had the good fortune of connecting with Aileen Judson and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Aileen, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
I wanted to start my own business so I could bring my dog to work!!! Although I’m kind of joking, it pretty much sums up my feelings about how and where I want to work and the environment I want to create for people. I strive to provide a relaxed and comfortable atmosphere where healing can take place, being professional and dedicated to the work in a casual setting. Obviously, dogs aren’t for everyone and I honor and respect that but most everyone loves and appreciates their presence.

I aim to bring about as much peace of mind as possible for both myself and those I serve and that is reflected in my office space whether in person or online. I always want to spend time talking with someone to find out exactly what is bringing them to me and what their goals are in working together. It helps define our time together and creates boundaries for each of us. I work with people and I want the experience to feel as personal as possible. That’s not always doable in a chain or spa setting.

As much as I have enjoyed working with and for people over the years, I’ve always felt like I wanted to get paid, in full, for the work I do. It feels a little grubby saying so “out loud” but I do so unapologetically. So often Bodyworkers who work for others do not get what I consider a fair or even reasonable cut for the job they do and oftentimes, work what I think of as crazy and unsustainable hours.

Both Massage and Yoga are very physically demanding jobs and the lifespan for either career is typically very short. A Massage Therapist will typically practice for no more than 10 years! Imagine, choosing this as your career, your calling, and having to give it up because the work has damaged your own body in service of others! It’s something I hear time and time again. I believe my longevity as a Therapist is in many respects due to me being able to set my own schedule, arrange it in a way that works best for me, and gives me the breaks in between people that allows me to recoup myself.

This work is both engaging and taxing on all levels, not just the physical. In providing holistic support to others it’s super important to have the ability to take care of yourself as a therapist in kind, and it has only been through having my own business that I’m able to offer my clients/students the time, space, privacy and safety that I do to explore their needs fully AND take care of my own.

Also, it has always been a pet peeve of mine to pay for an advertised 60 or 90 minute session and only get a 50 or 80 minute one. Having my own business means that I’m able to build in extra time for each and every session I provide. I’ve often felt a bit like a dog with a bone when it comes to tracking down the source of someone’s issues, and working in a conventional or perhaps commercial enterprise does not allow me the freedom to do that. Plus, I’m terrible with staying on time -LOL- so it allows me to be flexible and do the work with each individual I feel needs to be done, so they walk out feeling as best as they possibly can.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
My business has grown and developed over the years predominately of it’s own accord… I have rarely advertised or promoted myself until recently and have typically gained new business from word-of-mouth alone. I really don’t consider myself a business person, which could be why I’m not making as much money as I could – haha! 😉 I could probably do well with a business manager! There have been very few conscious decisions I’ve made along the way in terms of the business itself aside from what information I should put on my business cards. I now have a virtual assistant who helps me with online promotion however, my focus has always and will always be the people I serve.

I first hung up my shingle and opened my doors 27 years ago in September of 1995. I started with massage, learning the ropes and honing my skills. Without even thinking about it I began sharing tools that I had found helpful from my experience with yoga and meditation that I had been practicing for about 10 years already. I was also incorporating various forms of “energy medicine” and intuitive healing though I always somehow felt embarrassed about those skills and would shyly offer them, if at all. In many ways for many years I felt out of my depths. I had no idea what I was doing at all in terms of business, and frankly, some times have been very lean over the years. All I did know was to keep on going. Helping the person in front of me and then the next and the next and the next… more often than not getting good feedback and encouragement from my clients which made it easier to keep going.

I supplemented my income teaching Massage on and off for about 18 of those years, as well as Yoga, Pilates, and Meditation throughout. I suppose my answer to making my own ends meet has always been to just work more, which I’m sure has been genetically encoded in me. It’s a tactic I don’t necessarily recommend!

It has only been since March of 2020 and the pandemic, that I was given the push that I needed to take a portion of my business online, offering private and semi-private yoga, meditation and health and wellness coaching virtually. I am, or was, significantly tech impaired, and although I had a great desire to help more people years before, I was terrified of “putting myself out there” online. As soon as we went into lockdown I started taking course after course on how to create online offerings. I can’t say as it has been a huge success for me as of yet, but it has certainly taught me a lot about myself, and what I hope to create in the future.

Nearly everything I have ever offered to someone else, has been due to something I found helpful for myself. Through my own healing, my business and my sense of being a business person has shifted and changed throughout the years. I have spent many of them trying to hide and lay low due to my own issues of insecurity and shame, but now, even as scary as it can sometimes be, I have come to a point of just wanting to help as many people as I can to feel better in their own skin… I have experienced quite a bit of pain in my own life, in every category… I have had some significant physical injuries, have struggled mentally and emotionally with anxiety and depression, and often felt lost in a spiritual desert, even though my Spiritual connection has always been my guiding force, I went for long periods of time feeling separate from it.

For many years, decades, in fact – I didn’t even realize that there was help available to ease my suffering. I believed it was just who I was and how my life was meant to be. I felt isolated and alone and was sure that somehow what I felt was unique to me. This created shame and deepened my sense of isolation, feeling like something was inherently wrong with me.

When I did become aware that It was my life experiences and my response to them that led me to feel the way I did, I became hopeful that I could feel differently and sought help. Modern medicine did not have many answers that successfully addressed my issues and sometimes various treatments worsened how I felt. If anything I ended up feeling unheard, disregarded, minimized and further frustrated, because now I believed I could feel better, but was not getting the answers I sought. It was through the ancient teachings of Yoga and her sister science Ayurveda, modern Neuro-science, and the skilled application of specific practices from them that I was offered help and able to reclaim my life.

My overriding purpose in doing this work is to help people feel better and gain some sense of empowerment in taking care of themselves. To feel more connected to themselves and their life in ways that might not always be viewed as traditional or mainstream. It is my hope to help others feel supported as they find a way out of their pain and suffering on the quickest and easiest path forward.

For years I didn’t even know how to present the scope of my services to others, thinking I’d be viewed as WooWoo, and so focused on the physical aspects of my work. It’s been a tricky balance for me working in both the physical and energetic realms, healing myself as well as offering it to others, while trying to be taken seriously as a professional, experienced, knowledgeable business woman which I can now say I am. Part of that I’m sure has been due to me having to grow into that role and overcome my own personal and societal programming that I was somehow not competent or capable. It is probably this that I have become most proud of, which really, has been my life’s journey as a whole.

My greatest joy comes from helping someone who has perhaps not found help elsewhere. Whether it be a nagging physical issue or something more inner-personal, I’m always glad when the culmination of my experiences has given me the tools to offer others on their healing journey.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I’m afraid I’m a bit of a homebody, and find my greatest pleasure in my garden and own backyard, communing with nature. So when one of my best friends visited for a week not that long ago we had many wonderful meals – eating from the bounty of my garden – and wine at home, (because I do love to cook and entertain, and have been told I’m pretty good at it – so long as somebody else is doing the dishes!), then sat outside amongst the flowers and open blue or starry skies of my home in Flagstaff. We toured around a bit going out to Sunset Crater and Wupatki, wandered around Downtown, and given that it was a holiday weekend we had fun checking out the offerings of local crafts people at Art In The Park. Strolls in the woods with the dogs and lots of time laughing at my silly cat. We had a beautiful meal under the stars at Beaver Street on their patio (an oldy but a goody), and had a delectable pizza (says the NY pizza snob) from Fratelli’s.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
There are so many who have supported me over the years and given me a vision of where I could go and what my business could look like and the confidence to move in the direction of my heart. Whether it has been friends, family or other like minded spirits in business, I would not have the practice I do today without them in my life.

At first and for many years into my practice, my parents, who maybe didn’t understand the draw towards my profession or even know if it was a viable way of supporting myself, always encouraged my way forward, overriding any of their own concerns. They owned and operated the family farm, and both had side jobs to make ends meet to support 5 of us kids. They taught me the importance of dedicated work and the freedom in making your own way. They also trusted my intuition long before I ever could or knew how myself.

Professionally, Eric Walrabenstein of Yoga Pura in Phoenix, AZ has offered me the most transformational experience, not just as how I am as an Instructor, but for my own individual growth, development and understanding of how to show up in life, generally. He teaches what I always knew instinctually from my very first yoga class in the late 80’s – that the postures of yoga are not the yoga itself, but a means by which to practice yoga. That it is the skillful implementation of the wise and ancient teachings that can heal our minds and hearts and not how well we can or cannot do a series of physical poses. It’s been through his teachings and guidance that I’ve been able to both address and heal many of my own traumas/PTSD, and change my mental habits and patterns, learning how to manage and bypass my tendency towards anxiety and depression. This then gave me the perspective and the where-with-all to do what I originally set out to do: help people not just physically, but mentally, emotionally, and spiritually, using the body to get there.

Website: www.thebodydivine.com

Instagram: judsonaileen

Linkedin: Aileen Judson

Facebook: The Body Divine or Aileen Judson

Other: email: aileen@thebodydivine.com